MEDITATING ON CHRIST’S SUFFERING
Excerpted fromWilhelmus á Brakel, TheChristian’s Reasonable Service (SDG,1992), 1.612–23

As necessary as it is to know the truth and perfection of Christ’s satisfactionin the state of His humiliation, as well as its restriction to God’s childrenonly, so beneficial and soul-stirring it is also to make application of it byfaith. To consider this truth by way of holy meditation, to persevere inobtaining a proper frame of heart, and to grow by virtue of this frame, are exerciseswhich are hidden for many, even for believers. Truly if a person had more faithto clearly perceive these truths and were to be more occupied with a quiet andsweet meditation upon the suffering of Christ, the severity of that sufferingwould be better perceived. He would have a deeper insight into the abominablenature of sin and the sublime nature of God’s righteousness. He would rejoicemore in the truth and perfection of the satisfaction accomplished by thatsuffering. He would love Christ more, hate sin more, have a heart moresteadfast in the practice of godliness, and proceed with more courage, comfort,and peace.

Why Meditate on Christ’s Suffering?

Therefore actively and increasingly engage yourselves in these considerations.

1. The Angels Do So Too

This is even the work of angels, who for this reason were positioned with theirfaces towards the mercy seat in the temple. Of them, Peter says, “… whichthings the angels desire to look into” (1 Pet 1:12). If angels do this and findfelicity in so doing, we ought to do so all the more.

2. The Practice was Depicted andProphesied
in the Old Testament

Such observance was depicted in the erection of the brazen serpent in thewilderness, the observance of which healed those who were bitten by theserpents. This practice has also been prophesied. “And I will pour upon thehouse of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace andof supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and theyshall mourn for Him” (Zec 12:10). Such examples and prophecies, which havepreceded us, ought to readily stir us up to be engaged in this practice.

3. It was the Practice of the Godly

This has been the practice of the godly. The bride of Christ says, “A bundle ofmyrrh is my well-beloved unto me; He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts”(SS 1:13). What else is this bundle of myrrh but the suffering of Christ, whichis bitter but wholesome, protects against corruption, refreshes, strengthens,and is of a sweet savour? The bride not only carried this by day between herbreasts as an ornamental bouquet, but even by night it lays upon her heart. Inmeditating upon this, she would fall asleep; and upon awaking, she would stillbe occupied with this. The prophets were likewise engaged, “searching what, orwhat manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when ittestified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that shouldfollow” (1 Pet 1:11). Paul frequently engaged in such meditation, “That I mayknow Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of Hissufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil 3:10). The frequencywith which the godly have occupied themselves with this (not only at thebeginning of the New Testament dispensation but also since the Reformation), isconfirmed by their writings. If they fared so well in doing so, if it was ablessed practice which became increasingly sweet and precious, how this oughtto stir us up to exercise ourselves in such meditations, for this sweetnesswill not be tasted without some diligence.

4. It is a Spiritually Advantageous Exercise

It is a most advantageous exercise. By way of reading and hearing, one willreadily understand and retain the history itself, but the efficacy and warmthof this history will only be experienced by much meditation, and by applyingit.

In doing so we will, first of all, extract the most excellentinstruction:

(a) Only then will one truly learn the horrendous nature of sin. Then one willneither focus on sinful deeds alone, nor view sin from a natural perspective,but everyone will perceive the abominableness, filthiness, and hatefulness tobe found in every sin, viewing it as it is: an act of denial of God, contempttowards God, and desertion of God. Thus man, due to his sinfulness, will abhorhimself and be ashamed that he is such a horrible, hateful, and intolerablecreature.

(b) You will thus perceive the essential holiness of God’s justice, who canonly forgive sin by punishing it fully in the Surety. In doing so you will notonly perceive that you cannot entertain a quiet hope upon your supplication forforgiveness—as if that might be acceptable with God (an argument by whichthousands deceive themselves, and subsequently perish)—but out of love for thejustice of God you will desire to be saved only on the basis of thesatisfaction of divine justice.

(c) You will thus perceive the infinity and unsearchableness of God’s love,mercy, wisdom, and power, so that in the satisfaction of Christ you will detectmuch more than deliverance from guilt and punishment, but the soul will findwonderful delight in adoring the perfections of God and will be sweetly stirredup in love, praise, and thanksgiving.

Secondly, meditation upon Christ’s suffering will yield strongconsolations:

(a) You will perceive the perfect satisfaction of divine justice and howperfect the sinner is before God in Christ in spite of the fact that he remainssinful in himself.

(b) You will perceive how certainly and truly salvation has been merited, howcertainly a beneficiary of this suffering is appointed an heir of eternal life,and how infallibly sure it is that he will become a partaker of it.

(c) In meditating upon His suffering you will find peace of conscience in Godand free access to the Father.

(d) When considering His passion, all the suffering of this life becomes lightand one perceives that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment,worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor 4:17).Thus, the soul may find eternal comfort in all this.

Thirdly, meditation upon Christ’s suffering will yield heavenlyinstruction and direction:

(a) Here is an example of how we must die to the world and sin. “Therefore weare buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised upfrom the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk innewness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

(b) It yields the most powerful motives to mortify sin and live holily. Toperceive that Jesus underwent such bitter suffering out of love for us willquicken our love for Him, causing us to hate and flee sin and to walk in amanner pleasing to Him.

(c) Yes, you will become aware that meditation upon His sufferings willpresently yield strength and fortitude to mortify sin. Thus, here we have thefountain of true spiritual life, of true progress, and of the exercise ofvirtue, all of which will have the proper form and nature of spirituality.

(d) Such meditation will strengthen us in a wonderful way, if and when Christcalls us to suffer and to be martyrs for His Name and cause. Therefore, you whobear the name of Christian and desire to be true Christians indeed, engagefrequently in meditating upon the humiliation of Christ, for there is much moreto be found in it than you are aware of.

How to Mediate on Christ’s Suffering?

Come, children of God, meditate upon the suffering Jesus. Do not do so byviewing it as merely a history, nor as the suffering of a martyr, but as thesuffering of your Surety who took your place and paid for your sins.

1. Reflect on Who Christ is

First, meditate attentively upon the Person who suffered. He was not a wicked,insignificant, and contemptible man, nor merely a martyr whose death isprecious in God’s sight and is held in great esteem by the godly.

(a) Rather, this person is God and man, who is over all, God blessed forever,very God, and the Lord of glory. He, in order that He would be able to sufferand die, assumed our human nature from a human being within the context of HisPersonhood, and became like unto us, sin excepted. This is a miracle in thehighest sense of the word, exceeding the creation of heaven and earth. Pauseand reflect upon this until the greatness and magnificence of this Person maybecome evident to your heart, and you in all humility acknowledge Him as such.Then adoration will ravish your soul and you will exclaim, “Has such aPerson suffered and made atonement?”

(b) Consider Him also in His relationship towards you, and you in yourrelationship towards Him. Believers, do you not know Him? He it is who appearedto you when you were dead, blind, and immersed in sin and darkness. Heilluminated you with His light, made you alive, and still continually draws youto Himself, causing you to look, long, cry out, and wait for Him. He it is whosupports you as you stumble along, who secretly supports you in yourcross-bearing, gives you courage, strengthens you, and gives you hope. He it iswho at times revealed Himself to you, who at times kissed you with the kissesof His mouth, and caused you to feel His love. He it is who has said to you,“Thy sins are forgiven thee.” He it is towards whom all your desire is, yourLord, your Head, your Bridegroom. It is He who out of love—I repeat, out oflove—took your place as Surety, who took all your sins from you and took themupon Himself, taking them upon His account. He has received the stripes whichyou deserved, and the chastisement of your peace was upon Him. Reflect uponthis and may your love be stirred up in the acknowledgement of His love foryou. Hear your Beloved, as it were, speak to you, “My friend, I love you sodearly. Consider the evidence of My love. I suffered to make atonement for yoursins. This suffering which is so bitter and so heavy a burden to bear caused Meto be covered with blood from head to toe; as well as the fact that I was sodistressed within, due to God’s wrath pressing Me down—all of this I sufferedwillingly. I would rather suffer all this thousands of times than to see you golost and tolerate the thought that you would not be with Me in eternal glory.”Would this not soften your heart and generate love in return? Would this notcause you to melt sweetly in tears of love? The acknowledgement that Jesus isso lofty a Person, who yet is so near to you and who does all this out of lovefor you, will stir within and render your meditation upon the suffering ofChrist efficacious. Do not remain in your unbelief, nor give in to it, for thiswill render your meditation fruitless. Lift yourself up in faith and behold thesuffering Jesus making atonement from such a perspective. It will certainlycause you to rejoice and cause your heart to be warm with love.

2. Reflect on What You Are

Secondly, who are you for whom Christ has suffered all this? In yourself youare nothing but sin within and without, and therefore your nature is sohateful, abominable, intolerable, and damnable. What incompatibility there isbetween Jesus and you! Sink away in your wretched condition and acknowledgeyourself to be unworthy that anyone, let alone God and the Son of God wouldlook after you and think upon you. Above all, consider that everything is to befound in you which would cause the Lord Jesus to be repulsed by you and refrainfrom doing good to you. Focus on your wretched condition until you perceiveyourself to be entirely as we have just described you to be, and then betakeyourself in faith to the Lord Jesus. Be humbled, but be not unbelieving, bythis view which passes all understanding; namely, that Jesus should love you,and that He would love you to such an extent that out of love for you He wouldsuffer and die. Believe, however, that such is the case, and confess, “This isthe LORD’s doing; and it is marvellous in my eyes.”

Yes, proceed further, and consider the small number of men for whom the LordJesus has become Surety, in comparison to the great multitude of men whom Heneither loves nor looks upon, and for whom He was not willing to be a Surety.Then consider, “Why me? Why me in comparison to others—who am the mostdespicable, evil, foolish and intolerable sinner of them all? Why does the Lordlove me out of so many thousands? Why do I belong to those few, to the elect?Why is Jesus my Surety? Why does Jesus love me with an everlasting love, consideringthat so many millions go to hell? Why, why do I belong to the favoured ones whoare led to heaven?” This is too great, too high for me! Here I must stand stilluntil, in the state of perfection, I shall be able to comprehend more, be morecapable of adoration, and be more able to love in return and to give thanks.Since you give evidence of possessing the principal fruits of grace, bewarethat the greatness of this matter and your own insignificance do not draw youaway towards unbelief. This would offend the love of God, and exalt man toohighly, as if his lovableness was the primary cause of the love of God. Thiswould turn the entire work of grace upside down and would prevent Him fromreceiving the praise for His magnificent grace. Therefore, remain steadfast inthe faith.

3. Reflect on the Details of Christ’sSuffering

Thirdly, in this frame proceed from the cradle to the cross; focus upon everyaspect of suffering particularly and reflect upon them. Christ’s suffering hasnot been described for us in such detail without reason. It should thereforenot weary us to consider it from step to step. Each element of His sufferingcontains something special; each element reveals a particular sin, a particularpunishment consistent with this sin, and its removal. This will cause you toperceive the comprehensive nature of His suffering, that your sins are thecause, and that with your sins you have brought this suffering upon Him. Therewould not have been a need for Jesus’ suffering if you had not sinned. Oh, howsweet it is to be sensibly ashamed over our sins as being the cause of Christ’ssuffering and to say, “Oh dear Jesus, it grieves me that I have been the causeof Thy suffering. Why do I not rather suffer myself? If it were possible, andif I could prevail in it, I could not tolerate that Thou wouldest thus have tosuffer for me; I would bear the punishment myself. I can neither endure norprevail in it, however, and would have to endure it eternally. I thereforeacknowledge Thy love and value Thy grief. I truly rejoice that Thou hast takenmy place, hast satisfied for my sins, and hast merited eternal life for me. Toall eternity I desire to acknowledge this, and to love and thank Thee.”

It is remarkable that one is so seldom moved and stirred within about thesuffering of Christ. Everyone is conscious of this within himself and complainsover the hardness of his heart. Do you ask what the cause of this is? I answer:(1) In some it is due to ignorance, they having only general thoughts about thefact that Christ died for sin. They are neither acquainted with thedreadfulness of sin, nor with the severity of God’s wrath, and therefore cannotproperly value His suffering. (2) In some this is due to familiarity, theyhaving heard this so frequently, and therefore inner workings concerning thishave disappeared. (3) In some this is due to a lack of familiarity, as they arenot accustomed to focus upon this suffering. (4) In some this is due tounbelief—not historical unbelief, but at least unbelief due to lack ofapplication. Since it is not for them, they have neither desire nor interestwithin their heart to consider this matter, or to make an effort to reflectupon it. (5) It is due to a lack of spirituality, laziness, and a disparagingof this suffering. Be ashamed of this and be diligent, for the more you engagein such reflection, the easier and sweeter this practice will be to you.

4. Reflect on the Bearing that Christ’s Suffering 
has on your own Guilt and Sufferings

Fourthly, while persevering in this frame, consider the suffering of Christ toyour comfort by applying the same as a remedy against guilt, as well as foroccasions when you must suffer in likeness to Him.

(a) Consider it as a remedy against guilt. If the soul finds itselfbeset with great and small sins, sins against God and against his neighbour,sins against every commandment, sins that press down heavily as a burden tooheavy to bear; and if the soul becomes aware that God hides His countenance,that the way of approach to Him is closed, feeling the wrath of God, having aterrified conscience, and being fearful of yet going lost—then the soul mustespecially strive not to yield to this ill frame. This would be injurious.Rather, engage yourself in meditating upon the suffering of Christ. Consciouslyconsider the truth of Christ’s satisfaction on behalf of the sinner, theperfection of this satisfaction for great, small, and multiple sins—yes, forall original and actual sins, which have been committed by us from our firstmoment until the time of our death. Meditate long upon this until you perceivefrom God’s Word that this is truth, and until this may become truth within andyou may be fully assured that Christ as Surety has made a perfect satisfaction.

Consider how unspeakably happy a man is for whom Christ has made satisfaction.There is not one sin in him, which is not atoned for, and therefore God is thereconciled Father of such a sinner and he most certainly is an heir of eternallife. He will indeed become a partaker of this, by the way along which he isled to it ever so dark and undesirable. Having come to a general conclusionthat this is an infallible divine truth, then turn to yourself and considerwhether the Lord has wrought grace in the least degree in you. Consider whetheryour soul has not found, or still finds, itself under conviction of sin,damnation, and impotence; whether the Lord has not given you a different heartthan before, so that you now love what you hated before, and hate what youloved before; whether the world and sin cause you sorrow rather than joy;whether a living afar from God now causes you bitter grief, and it would be allyour desire to walk in the light of God’s countenance in truth, uprightness,obedience, and with singularity of heart. Consider whether you do not knowJesus as Surety, yearning, desiring, praying, and crying out for Him; whetheryou have not frequently presented yourself to Him, surrendering to Him to beboth justified and sanctified; whether you have not frequently received Him asSurety, to be reconciled to God by the ransom of His suffering and death.Consider whether it is now your desire and objective not to live in sin and inthe world, but rather a life pleasing to God; and whether the Lord upon yourfrequent seeking, praying, supplicating, believing, and surrendering yourselfto Him has not at times granted peace, quietness, and hope in your soul, oralso at times granted you assurance and joy.

In considering all this together, this ought not only to cause you to concludethat Christ is your Surety, since such graces are only wrought in those who arepartakers of the suffering and death of Christ, but this must also cause you toapply the suffering of Christ. For it is my objective to apply this truth toyour soul, so you might view this suffering as atoning for you, as having beensuffered in your stead; and that therefore your sins have been fully paid for,God is satisfied with you, and you are designated as a child and heir of God.Unto this end the wrestling of faith is necessary; that is, the actualreceiving and true believing until the soul can say in faith, “who loved me,and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Then you will properly value the sufferingof Christ and glorify the Father and the Son. Therefore be engaged in suchreflection and rest not until you can rejoice in it.

(b) Reflect upon the suffering of Christ in order that you may be comfortedwhen suffering in likeness to Him. I need not convince you that a similarsuffering according to soul and body will be your portion in this world. Youare sufficiently aware of this by experience, and perhaps you are currentlytasting it. You will frequently have to experience the bitterness of sin, God’sdispleasure concerning it, the hiding of God’s countenance, an unrestrained andtroubled conscience, fear for death, distress pertaining to damnation, theassaults of Satan, poverty, contempt and scorn (which will either be your faultor in response to godliness and the name of Christ), and oppression for the sakeof the Word, even though you may not perceive it as such. You may possibly alsobe called to martyrdom and thus seal the truth with your blood. You may also becalled to suffer physical pain and sorrow, albeit the one more and the otherless—yes, all manner of Christ’s sufferings.

Believers, you may, however, not view this suffering as a manifestation ofGod’s wrath towards you, for Christ has made satisfaction for all guilt andpunishment. God is just and does not require punishment for sin twice. The Suretyhas made satisfaction and therefore you are free. They are not punishments inthe true sense of the word nor manifestations of wrath towards the believer.The sting and the curse have been removed from them. They are fatherlychastisements upon you, which proceed from love and are for your welfare. It isthe way which the Lord has ordained to lead His children to heaven. Thereforein all your tribulations, fix your eye upon the suffering of Jesus Christ andapply this to yourself by a living faith until you have the lively assurancethat He has removed guilt and curse from you, and that these sorrows areassigned to you in love. Remain near this suffering Jesus, and let it sufficeyou that you are conformed to your Lord. Take up your cross and follow Him; Hehas compassion upon you, will support you, and will time and again deliver you.Keep your eye fixed upon future felicity and look away from this world, forthis is not the land of your rest. Rejoice in the hope of glory. “Humbleyourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in duetime” (1 Pet 5:6); “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shallstrengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Ps 27:14).

5. Apply the Example of Christ’s Suffering 
to your life by Imitation

Fifthly, reflect upon the suffering of Christ in order that you may imitateHim, and thus behave yourself in your suffering as He behaved Himself. LetChrist’s suffering also be an example; deal with the old man as Christ wasdealt with due to your sins.

First of all, behave yourself in suffering as Christ behaved Himself:

(a) Christ was not without feeling, and therefore you also are permitted tofeel the least discomfort.

(b) Christ complained to God and to man about His anxiety inflicted upon Himfrom within and without, and yet remained with them. You, too, may complain toGod and man. To complain due to grief or sorrow is neither an expression ofimpatience nor of sorrow. Do not forsake the company of people, for woe to theperson who is alone! Christ occupied Himself with prayer, and thus you must beengaged likewise. “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray” (Jas 5:13).

(c) Christ considered all suffering as coming from God. “The cup which myFather hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” (Jn 18:11). Therefore you alsoought to exercise faith in the providence of God and at all times learn toperceive it as the hand of God. To be assured of this requires diligent effort.

(d) Christ persevered in faith and exercised it in His greatest darkness anddesertion, saying even then, “My Father, My God.” Therefore you likewise oughtnot to cast away your faith and liberty; the proper bearing of your cross mustissue forth from them. If you succumb in faith, you will bear a double cross.

(e) Christ persevered in the endurance of His suffering. He did not wish toresign until all had been finished. May patience also do its perfect work inyou. As you should not ask God for a reason why He deals thus with you, butshould rather be satisfied with the will of God, lest you be judging whether ornot God’s dealings with you are right, so you may likewise not limit the Lordas to the time and duration of your suffering.

(f) Christ comforted Himself with the promise of a good outcome, keeping gloryin view. For the joy set before Him, He despised the shame and endured thecross. Therefore you ought also to focus upon the promises, which are yea andamen. Enliven yourself with this; consider the state of glory, reflect uponeternal rest, joy, and felicity, for then the bearing of your afflictions willbe easier, your conduct will be holier, and you will experience that they arebut light afflictions which will pass very shortly.

Secondly, hold the suffering of Christ before you as an example to deal withthe “old man” and to mortify sin. View the world and all sin with scorn andcontempt; view them as hanging on the gallows and as being crucified. Crucifythe flesh with the lusts thereof. How can you still engage in that for whichChrist had to pay so bitterly? Will the love of Christ and the esteem for Hissuffering not arouse in you a holy vengeance in return, to afflict and put todeath that which has caused Christ so much sorrow and put Him to death? Whilethus holding Christ before you as an example and as a powerful motivation tomortify sin, virtue and strength will go out from Him due to union with thesuffering Jesus by faith, which will enable you to proceed with the work ofcrucifying the flesh and mortifying sin, causing you to increase in strength forthat task. Therefore, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeedunto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:11); “Judge,that if one died for all, then were all dead… that they which live should nothenceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and roseagain” (2 Cor 5:14–15).

An Exhortation to theUnconverted

Unconverted friends, you also must come and attentively reflect upon thesuffering of Christ in order to perceive as in a mirror what will befall youtemporally as well as eternally if you do not repent. May this reflection be ameans to work repentance and faith in you.

(a) I therefore address myself to you who as yet are ignorant of sin in itsabominable and bitter nature and do not perceive and feel your misery, but livein sin with delight, esteeming the same as long as it is delightful and does noharm, while having no regard for whether or not this is sin.

(b) I address myself to you who burrow in the earth as a mole—the one to make aliving, the other for riches, another for honour, respect, or status, doing soas if all depended on this. Your thoughts only focus upon this; all yourconcerns and desires relate to this, you have nothing else in view and youlabour for nothing but this.

(c) I address myself to you who as yet do not feel what a dreadful condition itis to miss God, to be separated from Him, to live forgetful of Him, notrealising how blessed a state it is to be reconciled with God and to havecommunion with Him. As a result of this you are neither troubled by the one nordesire the other.

(d) I address myself to you who as yet are ignorant of the necessity ofsatisfaction of divine justice; and are of the opinion that if you but feelremorse over the commission of grievous sins and if you but pray forforgiveness, all will be well.

(e) I address myself to you who as yet do not know Christ as Surety whosatisfied for the sins of those who will be saved; to you who are ignorant ofthe manner in which one receives Christ by faith, and have neither wrestlingsnor exercises of faith.

(f) I address myself to you who live civil lives, frequently attend church, arebaptised, partake of the Lord’s Supper, and live in such a fashion that no onewill be able to say anything against you, and who on this basis build yourconfidence that you will be saved.

Poor people! You are still dead in sins and trespasses, blind, without Christ,and stand without as far as salvation is concerned. Come, therefore, andconsider each detail of the suffering of Christ; search for the reason whyChrist had to suffer thus. Consider that this is only the portion of those whoare converted, that is, for believers. Be sensibly convinced that you have nopart in this, but that if you remain thus and die in this state, you willsuffer the same to all eternity. For if the righteousness of God is so provokedto wrath towards the Surety, due to the sins of the elect whom He has lovedwith an everlasting love, how can you be of the opinion that you will go free?Oh no, “for if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in thedry?” (Lk 23:31). Conclude therefore with a lively impression that you areneither a partaker of Christ nor of all He has merited, but that you, as younow are, must eternally endure the absence of God and be subject to thedreadful and unbearable wrath of God. May God apply it to your heart and causeyou to tremble and shudder. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, betakeyourself to this Jesus, seek Him, and endeavour to believe in Him in order tocome to God through Him and thus be saved. If you will not heed this,considering such fears to be the anxiety of a coward; and if you turn yourheart away from this, you who hear this read or read it yourself, proceed ifyou wish, but know that you have been warned, and that your condemnation willbe the heavier.

This article is really the application section of a must-read chapter, entitled“The State of Christ’sHumiliation by which He made Satisfaction for the Sins of the Elect” (pages575–623), with only the subtitles and formatting being our work. It is withsome un-willingness that we have to leave out the first part of the chapter.But seeing that meditation is all but a lost art to most of us, and what greatspiritual benefits may be derived from the exercise, we are compelled to printjust this portion, lest the length of the chapter may discourage some of usfrom reading to the end. May the Lord grant us help to spend time meditating onthe suffering of Christ as we commemorate His death at His Table.

—J.J. Lim